The origins of formal education in Somerton lie with Thomas Fermor, who when he died in 1580 endowed a free school for boys to be instructed in "virtue and learning." The school was established in the converted castle yard chapel — the last remaining part of the original castle — and the schoolmaster's house was built around 1750.
The building which resulted forms the centrepiece of the present Old School House, now a residence and believed to be the oldest home in Somerton. The 1996 Conservation Area Appraisal by Cherwell District Council judges that "elements of the chapel may have been incorporated into the 16th century building." Pottery from the thirteenth century was dug up nearby in 1954, and "several skeletons and a silver cross were unearthed in the 19th century," giving weight to the belief that the site was once used as a Roman Catholic burial ground.
During the seventeenth century the small grammar school taught "the sons of yeomen of the parish and neighbourhood." The masters were generally clergymen, and the names of several seventeenth and eighteenth century schoolmasters are known. The gravestone of Richard Todhill (d. 1656) is found in the parish church along with that of Thomas Dutton, M.A. (b. 1608, d. 1691) who served as "Schoolmaster of ye free school of Somerton" for fifty-two years.
The eighteenth century witnessed the rebuilding of the school in 1750. By 1787, however, "most of the village children were excluded, as only children who could read were admitted." In 1837 the curate, Mr. Jordan, found that "only five children were receiving free education, and that no child under seven years old was admitted." He began a system of half-yearly examinations to check the abuses and raise standards.
The school was repaired in 1850 at a cost of £75, using a portion of the £200 paid by the Railway Company for a small piece of land belonging to the Free School. In 1864 a further £200 was spent on improvements. In 1870 Lord Jersey gave £60 to meet the requirements of the Elementary Education Act. Significant modernisation was carried out in 1894 at a cost of £200. The school was reorganised as a junior school in 1930, and it was controlled in 1951. When it finally closed, the children of Somerton joined those of neighbouring villages at schools in Fritwell, Steeple Aston and elsewhere — travelling by bus along the roads where earlier generations had walked, or been given bicycles for journeys of more than two miles. The building became the Old School House, a private residence. Thomas Fermor had endowed it for boys to be instructed in “virtue and learning” in 1580. Nearly four centuries of village education had passed through its doors. What that meant to Somerton — a village small enough that every family had passed through the same classroom, known the same teachers, shared the same May Day — is perhaps best understood not in this paragraph but in the pages of memory that follow it.
— Michaela Rees Jones — A Short History of The Old School House, May 2010
School Days — Growing Up in the 1930s and 40s
Notes of a meeting held in the former School in 2009. Present: Doreen Brookfield, Brenda Moignard, Marina Warr, Brian Calver, Sheila Stevens, Dennis Lydiatt. Transcribed by Rosemary Arnold and Shirley Grant.
The school day began at 9.00 a.m. with the ringing of the school bell. Miss Bernice Edwards, the teacher, would choose who was to ring it and she had her favourites. The only time the bell was not rung was during the war. The children arrived and lined up, took off their coats and hung them in their respective cloakrooms. Miss Edwards would then take Assembly — she played the piano for a hymn, and prayers were said. The children then sat down at their desks. There were set lessons including Scripture and Sums. They did PE outside unless it was raining or snowing.
It was a hard job for Miss Edwards as there were about 30 children from 4½ years to 11. They all did sums together — easy ones for the younger children, more difficult for the older ones. During the war materials were scarce so books were a bit tatty. The desks all had inkwells set into them.
Miss Edwards used to poke them in the back with her thumb if they weren't paying attention, which hurt. The Vicar gave Miss Edwards tuition for teaching but she never qualified as a teacher, so it is amazing that the children learnt as much as they did. There was a needlework box just inside the school room door and the girls did sewing. The boys were taught gardening on plots behind the wall where the tennis court is now, called The Dell.
Every day someone took a jug and went down to the stream to get the water for the day. Watercress grew there. Milk was provided, but when it was very cold Miss Andrews would bring a pan and put all the bottles of milk into a saucepan and make cocoa so that they had a hot drink. The schoolroom was heated by a coke stove with a big iron guard round it. On Mondays it was always cold as there had been no heating over the weekend.
Most had sandwiches for lunch as no school dinners were provided, although when Doreen started school cooked food was brought from Fritwell. Those who lived in the village went home for dinner. Those who lived further away — such as Phyllis Golder down by the Railway Crossing — stayed for dinner. All of them walked to school.
The biggest event in the school year was May Day. It was the best thing ever and they all looked forward to it. About three weeks to a month before the Day the children would begin rehearsing. A couple of days before, they went around the big houses to collect flowers. Moss had to be collected to tie onto the garland — a frame of wood tied at the top with a circle at the base. The May Queen was chosen by vote, and about 6–8 girls were chosen by Miss Edwards to be Maids of Honour, given a flower and a rhyme to say.
One year Marina was Violet but because she couldn't find any violets she cried her eyes out, so Brian went out to Ardley Woods and came back with loads as she was so upset. What a good brother to have! The garland was always topped with Crown Imperials which came from the garden of the Emberlins.
On the big Day they started off from the School House and went down to North Aston Mill where the Miss Roses lived. They came back to meet the train and when it stopped they said their verses and sang their songs to the passengers. Then it was up to Church Street and along to Adams Cottages, then back to the school for the sandwiches they had brought that morning. In the afternoon they went up to Troy Farm and the other end of the village. Mrs Hill gave them tea and they were allowed to go round the Maze.
Every farm was visited. At Manor Farm the Miss Emberlins would hide pennies in the wall for them to find. After they had been all around the village the children returned to the school and their parents came to see the Maypole dancing in the school yard. They collected money en route which was used for a Christmas party. "Sometimes when either Doreen or Brenda couldn't sleep the other would say 'Think of something nice, think of May Day'."
The V.P.A. Show was always a great success. They had a Village Fete and were very keen on Whist Drives — it was said that the Village Hall floor was the best dance floor in North Oxfordshire. They used to put bath crystals on the floor to make it slip. A football team was started but it didn't take off. However there was a cricket ground up Glyde Hill. Nearly everyone in the village used to swim in the river, went fishing or just played down in the meadows. In the winter they went sledging.
Everyone was keen and worked and played together. As Brenda later recalled: "We weren't angels by any means but the mischief was innocent if at times a bit naughty, the worst being apple scrumping in the Emberlins' and Moores' orchards. Plums and pears were our favourites, Victoria and greengages in particular. But by Jove if we got caught we were in a deal of trouble and sent to bed with no tea. They were very happy days. In fact all our childhood days were very happy. I quote the words of the song, 'Those were the days my friends'."
Not everyone found school in Fritwell so happy. Doreen's brother Donald was bullied there. His solution was quietly ingenious: he would take his bike up Jimmy’s Hill, climb a tree, and haul the bike up after him on a rope. He would stay there until the other children had gone past below, then come down again. He was never caught. One day when several of the children were up in those same trees, an old tramp came along the path beneath them. Doreen was so frightened she got stuck and couldn’t get down; Brenda had to fetch her brother Dennis to help her out.
The Participants — in their own words
The following brief notes, recorded at the meeting, give a sense of who these people were and how they had moved through the village over their lifetimes.
Doreen Brookfield (née Lydiatt, born 1939, sister to Brenda and Dennis). Born at 1 New Buildings. Started school at five in 1944. Moved to No 1 Aston View until married, then to the middle one of Adams Cottages. The family was obliged to house a farm worker of the Browns and to pay £2 a week rent plus look after him — he had lunch with them every day. The house had three bedrooms and the bathroom was in the kitchen. Auntie Sis and Uncle Ron (Sheila’s parents) lived next door.
Brenda Moignard (née Lydiatt, born 1937, sister to Doreen and Dennis). Born at 1 New Buildings, then moved to Aston View. Started school at age five. Now living in Fritwell.
Marina Warr (née Calver, born 1948). Started school at four and a half in 1953. Born in the cottages in Church Street opposite the church — they had no water or electricity but had a pump outside. It was the first red brick house. She moved at about two years old to 1 West View, where she stayed until she was twenty, then moved to Fritwell to be closer to Brian.
Brian Calver (born 1937, Marina’s brother). Lived in Church Street. Went to school in 1942.
Sheila Stevens (née Lydiatt, born 1931, cousin to Brenda, Doreen and Dennis). Born at Deddington Hill. Came to Somerton when six months old and went to school at 4½. Lived in the middle School Cottage. Then Rectory Cottage, then Adams Cottages until married, then Aston View next to Dot Coupe. When she married Monty Stevens they went to the Station House.
Dennis Lydiatt (born 1932, brother to Doreen and Brenda). Lived at New Buildings. Started school in 1937 when he was five. Living in Middle Barton at the time of the meeting.
Miss Moore's Memories
Notes written by Miss Maggie Moore — transcribed by Rosemary Arnold
Mrs Moore remembered going to the school run by Miss Jennings and her sister in part of what is now Lancasters' house (formerly called The Cottage, now known as Jasmine Place, a thatched cottage until the 1970s at the bottom of Church Street). The teacher had a long cane which reached to the back of the room. Reading, writing and needlework were taught to the infants. Miss Jennings was paid by Lady Jersey.
A small fee had to be paid each week for attending the ordinary school, where attendance was not compulsory. Mrs Moore remembered giving her sister Nellie sweets to stay at home and help with the housework so that she could go to school.
Lady Jersey founded a school for female children at Middleton. Julia, Lady Jersey — the daughter of Sir Robert Peel, twice Prime Minister and founder of the Metropolitan Police — had opened this school because the existing Free School at Somerton accepted only boys. That the girls of Lord Jersey’s villages should have access to some form of education was a cause she took personally. Mrs Moore remembered Lady Jersey coming to ask her mother which daughter she could spare. One girl was taken from each village that Lord Jersey owned and they were given a good training for domestic service, attending ordinary school during the day but each had a certain amount of housework to do. There were 6–8 girls living there. They went to Church dressed in red cloaks and hats with Lady Jersey taking them for Sunday school.
At 13 she was sent to Oxford where she was met by her employers at the station. She carried a bunch of flowers so that they would recognise her. Church bells were tolling for the death of Princess Alice. They went by horse bus to a house in St Aldates where a small private day school was run by two ladies. She caught rheumatic fever through sleeping in a damp bed and had to leave.
— Miss Moore's notes were given to Rosemary Arnold by her sister, Mrs Gillam